Why is it so hard to string a round together????

[la_lucha]

So Saturday we were back to full greens, some full tees and the Bunkers were back in play. Over our first three holes I hit 7,4,6 against pars of 5,3,4. Ok I think I've not played much at all over the past month and a half and I haven't been to the range. I then proceed to play par/bogey golf all the way through to 15. Which playing off 21 was really pleasing. I finished the front 9 with 21 points and missed three birdie putts in that by inches.

Then on 16 my usual game came back, Skied the drive, sliced the 7 iron and duffed 4, yes 4 chips from within 80 yards for a blob.

Then onto our 302 yard par 4 17th. Skied the three wood from the tee, for the second standing about 200 from the green I take my three wood and crack it to 10 foot, which as it happens was in a bunker on a downhill lie. A few shots later and I'm in the hole for 7.

Next up the big finish 541 yard par 5 18th. I absolutely mullered it down the middle with one of the best drives of my short golfing career. This left a simple 9 iron to lay up and the same into the green, but no..... I decided to top the second. Ending up in the hole for 7.

Why oh why is it so hard to string a round together? On the 15th tee I was discussing with one of my playing partners how it's nice to play some proper golf on a proper course and then I go and throw it all away. I finished up with a 96 three over my handicap. Am I destined to always be a 20+ handicapper? I can play 9 holes 4-9 over no problem but any more than that and I start falling apart.

I guess it's down to losing concentration as I go on, but i just don't seem to be able to keep it going even when I know what's causing it.

boo hoo.

 

[Stuey01]

Take the positives, you have some game in there. With experience the bad ones will become fewer and further between and your scores will improve.
You know you can hit good shots, better that than knobbing it round never striking a decent ball I reckon.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Feeling the pain. First game of 2014. Steady (level 2 pts through 4) and then lost the plot greenside at 5. Sublime shot at 7 got it back on track and went out in 14 points thanks to a three putt and a carved drive. Birdie at 10 for 4 points got me going and then lost the plot on 16, 17, and 18 amassing a massive 1 point for 27 in total. Bad drive at 17 and 18 (latter going OB) so two bad swings to blame but felt there was some good stuff. However as it was the first game of the year and conditions are still hard (mud balls, bare muddy lies around the green, compacted sand in bunkers etc) I'm not beating myself up or worrying. I had no swing thoughts and to be honest was kind of just hitting it without any real focus (may or many not be the future). First comp of the year on Saturday and I'll definitely be more focussed on everything and trying to string two complete nines together.

 

[G_Mulligan]

perhaps tension is to blame, maybe simple fatigue which can also affect concentration. Perhaps getting ahead of yourself instead of keeping it one shot at a time. Confidence in your ability and not believing you are good enough leading to some self sabotage if you are on to break your best round.

Try and figure out the underlying problem by taking a little notepad out on the course and write down what you are thinking and telling yourself during a round.

 

[cookelad]

Yep, been playing 15 hole rounds of golf for a while just wish there was a pattern to which were going to be trouble and how I would make them difficult!

 

[Jack_bfc]

My first 'proper' round of the year yesterday.

Similar tail in very windy conditions.. Started nicley bogey par. Then back into the wind struggled over the next 4 holes.

Standing on the 8th I had 8 points. After 9 I had 16 points. Birdie 3 on a shotened par 4 with a perfect lob wedge out of the light rough over bunker to within 3 feet... The the 9th 157 yards straight downwind. Easy 8iron to within 18inches. Birdie 2...

Drove the ball nicely (range practice) struggled a bit in the soft semi rough and 3 putted too many times.

98 strokes but happy to be back out and playing. Remeber the birdie birdie and not the 7/8..

 

[chrisd]

We had a Texas scramble. We had to count 4 drives each player (4) and 2 spare drives. I teed off on 17 holes and we could have used any of my drives on 16 tee shots - other than that, I didn't hardly contribute. I didn't make a putt, decent iron shot and only one pitch shot of note.

I put it down to lack of playing, feel and touch as well as trying to bed in some swing changes. With still softish fairways, strongish winds and aching like mad from walking the full course for the first time since Christmas I guess it was never going to be great.

Roll on Wednesday for another go!

 

[bladeplayer]

Expectation & getting a head of myself messes me up , its gona change this year tho , its going to be shot by shot & accept the end score when ive shaken hands , i will be aware of what score is going on but i HOPE i have enough experience now (bad & good ) to stay in the moment the majority of the time ,,

Its something i promised myself i would do this year so we will see . was playing a matchplay semi on sat and started to get ahead of myself round the 13th, had a word with myself settled down & kept playing well .. so hopefully

 

[la_lucha]

I guess reading the comments guys, I just forgot what I was telling myself at the start. With long shots it was just relax and don't overthink it or try to hard. With chips it's almost the opposite, think about it, short backswing accelerate through and maybe I just forgot this and got the two mixed up.

It sounds silly sitting here two days later but it really is that simple, oh well next week it the KOK so hopefully I can keep it going through that, would be nice to come halfway up the table at least if I am hoping to get into the teens this season.

 

[kennethwest]

Hear hear! I think a lot of it is down to technique to be fair, poor technique will undoubtedly lead to stray shots when the timing is off!

 

[Leereed]

Me the same pal play off 16. Can play to 8 or 28. Two holes will do me every week(not the same two).this Saturday played to 12 Sunday first 9 total crap.back 9 dropped 4 shots gross.its just golf.......

 

[the_coach]

I guess reading the comments guys, I just forgot what I was telling myself at the start. With long shots it was just relax and don't overthink it or try to hard. With chips it's almost the opposite, think about it, short backswing accelerate through and maybe I just forgot this and got the two mixed up.

It sounds silly sitting here two days later but it really is that simple, oh well next week it the KOK so hopefully I can keep it going through that, would be nice to come halfway up the table at least if I am hoping to get into the teens this season.

The old cliche holds true, to keep a score going you have to stay in the present and not let your mind wander to imagine it's going to be the best ever round you've played, if up till then you've played well, or if playing badly going forwards in thought to the worst ever score.

It really is focussing on the shot in hand, visualizing a positive outcome. Have an 'exact rehearsal swing' not just a practice swing.
Have a same time set pre-shot routine you stick too every shot, stops negative thoughts creeping in, narrow the focus of your aim then set up precisely.
Never be vague about where you want to hit the ball, your brain needs detail to perform properly, aim to hit it 'somewhere' and that's exactly what you'll get, the ball going 'somewhere'.

Breath out, breathe in, make a swing with rhythm and balance.

(Whatever you've been working on in practice distill it to a 'feel' to take with you on the course.)

 

[la_lucha]

The old cliche holds true, to keep a score going you have to stay in the present and not let your mind wander to imagine it's going to be the best ever round you've played, if up till then you've played well, or if playing badly going forwards in thought to the worst ever score.

It really is focussing on the shot in hand, visualizing a positive outcome. Have an 'exact rehearsal swing' not just a practice swing.
Have a same time set pre-shot routine you stick too every shot, stops negative thoughts creeping in, narrow the focus of your aim then set up precisely.
Never be vague about where you want to hit the ball, your brain needs detail to perform properly, aim to hit it 'somewhere' and that's exactly what you'll get, the ball going 'somewhere'.

Breath out, breathe in, make a swing with rhythm and balance.

(Whatever you've been working on in practice distill it to a 'feel' to take with you on the course.)

I think the difficult thing is realising when you are doing things different. I played the whole round believing that I was doing the exact same thing on every shot. It was only two days later when I wrote it on here that I realised I lost a bit of concentration.

 

[full_throttle]

I feel your pain, my course was open yesterday (0nly 8 holes of the 9) started by going through the green first time ever, then blobbed the 2nd, 14 points from 8 holes with a blob, then went par, par, birdie, par, bogey , par, triple bogey, bogey. 34 points and two n/r.

would be great if i can hit the ball as well when the competitions restart in April

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

In answer to the OP...because we find it very difficult to play the game one hole at a time; one shot at a time. That affects our ability to be consistent - and as we know - in swinging a stick to hit a small ball it is fundamentally tough to be consistent. And let's not forget that golf is in large part a game of luck,conditions and fortune!

 

[MadAdey]

Look at the positives and focus on them. It sounds like you got annoyed with yourself. You had put a good round together for 15 holes and was hoping for a steady finish to have a good round.

So you got to your 16th, bad drive, bad approach, messed up first chip and got annoyed as you could see a good round going down the toilet and ended up blobbing the hole.

17th hole, bad drive pulled off a good 3w, thought you was on the green. Found it in a stinker of a lie in the bunker and after blobbing the hole before maybe tried to still make par to make up for lost points on the previous hole. You have tried getting too clever instead of just getting it out and ended up with another blob.

Sometimes rounds go wrong towards the end due to fatigue, causing a lack of concentration, some go wrong because you are having a good round and you go into card protection mode rather than carrying playing like you have been all day.